Biotech in South Lake Union

P-I reporter Joseph Tartakoff takes an inside look at the city’s plans for creating a biotech hub in the South lake Union neighborhood, noting that most of the growth over the past four years has come from non-profit research organizations like the UW and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center rather than for-profit companies.

Still, Mayor Greg Nickels is expected to announce Friday that biotech office space in the neighborhood is exceeding expectations with about 1.5 million square feet to have been built by 2008. Meanwhile, Alexandria Real Estate Equities and Fairview Research Center are expanding with additional biotech space in the neighborhood.

But non-biotech tenants are expanding faster in South Lake Union.

Lori Mason Curran, Vulcan’s real estate market research manager, tells Tartakoff that they are looking to create a mix of tenants in the neighborhood and are simply trying to respond to market demand. (Microsoft recently gobbled up 126,000 square feet in the Westlake/Terry building, while Amazon.com has been rumored to be moving its headquarters to the neighborhood.)